French Navy doesn’t need Mistrals, sinking is cheapest way out of contract – media

The French Navy does not need the Mistral ships that were built for Russia, and with no chance of selling them to a third party, it seems paying the penalty of sinking the vessels could be the cheapest way out of the contract France fails to abide by.

“If the question is whether
the French naval forces need these Mistrals, the answer is
'no',”Admiral
Bernard Rogel, the chief of staff of the French Navy said as
cited by Le Monde.

The French media reports that since France cannot sell the ships
to a third party, the easiest ways out of the embarrassing crisis
would be to sink the two brand new vessels. And the cheapest as
well, as decommissioning work would cost about €20 million
(nearly $23 million) – compared to the estimated €2 to €5 million
($3 to $5.7 million) France wastes monthly on maintaining the
ships.

After the deal to
deliver the helicopter carriers to Russia was indefinitely
postponed, the country has no use for the expensive ships, and
sources in the French Navy also reportedly agree that it will be
best for France to simply sink the ships.

“Experts have suggested destroying these helicopter carriers.
Of course such decision will not be welcomed by employees of the
dock yards who built them, but it will be the cheapest thing to
do, costing some €20 million (nearly $23 million),” Le Monde
wrote, as cited by TASS.

Meanwhile, the French secretary general for defense and national
security, Louis Gautier brought Paris’ offer to end the deadlock
to Moscow. France has reportedly proposed to terminate the
Mistral ships contract, offering €100 million ($114 million) less
than Moscow paid upfront, not to mention other costs on the
project, such as training and new infrastructure.

By offering the money
back, Paris hopes to get a permission from Russia to sell the
helicopter carriers to a third party, sources told Russia’s
Kommersant newspaper.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously said that Moscow
would welcome either ships or money. Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov also commented that the Mistral issue has now
become purely legal.

The two Mistral class amphibious ships have been the single
biggest point of contention between Russia and France since
President Francois Hollande blocked the delivery of the vessels.

According to the 2011 contract, France agreed to build two
helicopter carriers Vladivostok and Sevastopol, with the latter
planned for completion in 2015. However, it failed to pass them
to the Russian military.

Paris and Moscow are
continuing to hold consultations over the situation with some
“positive” trends being seen, the deputy director from
the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation,
Anatoly Pinchuk, told Sputnik on Friday.